Half to joseph b



(No Model.)

A. INGRAM TOBACCO SCRAP CUTTER Patnted Mar. 28,1882.

WITNESSES:

N4 PETER& Phalo-Lilhagnpher. Washingion. D. C.

y UN TE STATES PATENT OFF CE.

AMER INGRAM, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO JOSEPH B. DE 'YOUNG,OF SAME PLACE.

TOBACCO-SCRAP CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 255,512, dated March 28, 1882.

Application filed December 17. 1881. (No model.)

To alt-whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AMER INGRAM, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tobacco-Scrap Gutters, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the tobaccoscrap cutter embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof, the supports of the frame being removed. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section in line w m, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

My invention consists of a machine for cutting tobacco-scrap, provided with means, subframe of the machine, and B B the feed-rollers;

G, the rotary cutter; D, the bed-knife; and E, the feed-apron, the latter passing around the lower feed-roller, B, and a roller, E, mounted on the table of the machine. The feed-rollers B and B are cared to ether so as to rotate toward each other, or in the direction of the arrows, power being imparted to the gearing from the driving-shaft F, which is mounted on the top of the frame A, it being noticed that the gearing a, for the upper feedroller, is on one side of the frame A, and the gearing a, for thelower feed-roller, is on the opposite side thereof, whereby each roller has its gearing independent of the other, and thus there are positive motions imparted to the rollers in reverse order, the rotary cutter O beingalso positively operated by the shaft F through intermediate gearing.

G represents a roller, which is mounted on the frame of the machine between the rotary cutter and the upper feed-roller, B, and above oradjacent to the bed-knife D, and geared with the gearing of the feed-rollers and rotary cutter so as to rotate at a greater rate of speed than the feed rollers. The ends or journal portions of the roller G are passed through vertical slots b inthe side pieces of the frame, whereby said roller may rise and fall "in its bearings without, however,beingthrown out of gear, the same provision existing in the case of the upper feed-roller, B, the slots in which its journals rise and fall being shown at b, Figs. 1 and 2, thejournals of said roller being forced down by springs or weights, springs being shown in the present case, as at a.

On the ends of the roller G' are hung weights H, which depend from rods J, whose upper ends are formed with eyes 0, which are fitted loosely onthe roller, so that the rotation of the latter is not prevented.

When themachine is in operation the tobacco scraps placed on the apron E are advanced, passed between the feed-rollers, and directed between the flat top of the bed-knife and roller Gr. As the latter is weighted or heavy and rotates at a greater rate of speed than the feed-rollers, it serves to lay out or smooth and compress or mat the scraps on the bed-knife as closely as possible to the cuttingedge of said bed-knife, and thus the scraps, though small, are unfailingly reached by the rotarycutter,and thereby reduced or chopped. When the massol' thetobaccoorscrapincreases in thickness or bulk the rollers E Gr rise or yield, owing to the slots 1) b, apd thus injury totheparts ofthemachineis prevented. When the thickness or bulk of the tobacco decreases the rollers fall, and thus at all timesthe rollers impart the proper pressure to the tobacco, so that it is reliably fed to the rollers B B and acted upon by the roller G in the manner above stated.

The upper feed-roller, B, is formed of a cylinder, having inserted in its periphery radiallyarranged blades (1, which project beyond the periphery, so as to press into the tobacco and take hold of the same as it is fed forward, thus preventing any slip of said material when it reaches the feed-rollers, this being assisted by the feed-apron and lower feed-roller, which positively advance the tobacco to the place of contact of the upper feed-roller.

My invention will be found useful for cutting pieccsofleaf-tobacco of all sizes, and especially so when it is in a damp or wet condition, as it is reliably fed to the cutters,and properly held during the cutting operation.

It will be seen that the construction and combination of parts above described allow the compressing-rollerto yield independently of the upper feed-roller and the upper feedroller to yield independently of the compressing-roller.

5 Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. In a tobacco-scrap-cutting machine, a bed-knife havingaflat top, in combination with :o a weighted vertically-movable compressingroller, which bears thereon to press the tobacco between them, a pair of feed-rollers for supplying the tobacco to said compressing-roller and knife, and a rotary cutter, which finally r5 acts on the tobacco, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. An independently-weighted upper feedroller, alower feed-roller, and anindependentlyweighted compressing-roller, in combination with the stationary and rotating cutters, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a tobacco-cutting machine, an upper feed-roller, alower feed-roller, an endless apron, a driving-shaft, two independent sets of gearing, an independently-weighted compressingroller, and the rotary cutter and bed-knife, combined and operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

- AMER INGRAM. Witnesses:

JOHN A. WIEDERsHEIM,

A. P. GRANT. 

